Juneteenth, another holiday about freedom and individual rights. Love it!
Reposting what I said last year, slavery is wrong. Not because a law prohibits it—but because no human possesses the right to coerce and control another human’s behavior, let alone treat another human like property. No law makes any behavior right or wrong. Laws should protect individual rights, but no law can create a right.
We own our own lives and are responsible for our own actions, but we have no right to own another person, nor control their actions against their will.
The difference between a job and slavery is the voluntary agreement into which two parties enter. The voluntary agreement is the difference between rape and consensual sex or robbery and charity. Voluntary and consensual agreements are the foundation of a free society.
Lastly, remember that the great wrong of slavery has existed for all of human history across every civilization, religion, culture, ethnicity, and race. In America, we tend to focus on the white vs black component of slavery, but this oversimplifies and avoids the history of this terrible institution.
Sadly, slavery still survives in certain parts of the world. While not ubiquitous like it once was, every human can agree—this great wrong should be condemned at every opportunity. And on Juneteenth, let’s celebrate its eradication in the US.
